This disclosure relates to data communications, and, in some cases, to high-speed data transmission of financial information.
Computing devices may send and receive messages to communicate information. For example, a message may contain data that represents information to be communicated from one computing device to another. In some examples, computing devices may use a network to exchange messages. In one example, computing devices may exchange messages that include financial information via an electronic securities exchange.
A securities exchange provides securities traders with facilities to buy and sell securities. Securities may include a wide variety of tradable instruments that represent financial value such as stocks, bonds and derivative contracts. Securities exchanges can take many forms. An electronic securities exchange may be implemented by electronic trading software executing on one or more interconnected servers to form an electronic trading system. The electronic trading system may provide a virtual market for traders to buy and sell securities. For example, the electronic trading system may maintain a real-time list of securities available for trading as well as buying and selling prices of the securities. In this way, pricing information of each security may be communicated to buyers and sellers in real-time.
In some examples, a trader may access the electronic securities trading market via a trading application executing on the trader's computing device. The trading application may communicate with the electronic trading system via a network connection such as the Internet or a dedicated high-speed network. Using the trading application, the trader may generate and send messages to the electronic trading system that include instructions to buy or sell securities. A message may specify, for example, a security identifier, a buy or sell price, and/or a quantity of the securities to be purchased or sold. The electronic trading system may receive the message from a trader and execute a buy or sell transaction based on the contents of the message.